


Saved

by thestoriesthatiwrite



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, I might continue this at some point, M/M, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-05
Updated: 2015-08-05
Packaged: 2018-04-13 04:00:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4506918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestoriesthatiwrite/pseuds/thestoriesthatiwrite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>written for MalecWeek Day 5: Back to the Future. Where Magnus and Alec meet each other in a different TMI time setting. </p><p>Magnus is heading home late on night when he sees a shadowhunter jump off the London Bridge into the iced waters below.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saved

_London, 1876._

The snowflakes were failing out of the sky, covering the streets with a soft, light layer. Winter had officially arrived. Footsteps could be seen imprinted on the pavement. Big feet. Small feet. Dog feet.  
Magnus appeared to be following the footsteps of many. It was past midnight and the streets were deserted. _Soon the footsteps would disappear under a new blanket of snow_ , Magnus thought. The job for the London Institute had taken longer than he thought, though the payment was worth it. He was knackered. He wanted to go home, take a warm bath and crawl underneath his silken sheets. Originally he was supposed to spend the night a Camille’s place, but she had told him not to bother if it was going to be after midnight before he could come over. So here he was making his way home. The cold wind running through his long hair. He put his hands in his pocket and strutted towards the London bridge. His house was 2 blocks from there, 10 more minutes in this freezing cold.

When he got to the bridge, it took him a while to realise he wasn’t alone. The snow fall slightly blurred his vision but standing on the bridge was a figure dressed in black. _Oh great!_ Magnus thought, _Just what I need today, more Shadowhunters._ The shadowhunter didn’t move. Which caused Magnus to stand still as well. He could turn around and cross the Tower Bridge or ask the figure what it’s business was tonight.  
Just when he was about to ask, the figure took a turn to the left and lifted itself on top of the small railing. Magnus quickly looked around, scanning the area for anyone else. He took a few steps closer and when the figure became clear to him, the shadowhunter jumped. A big splash could be heard. The Thames river this time a year was a thin layer of ice, this shadowhunter jumped in knowing sooner or later he would drown to death. Magnus couldn’t let that happen. He didn’t want to be the warlock who stood by idly and watched a person meet their marker.  
  
He ran to the railing and muttered a spell as quickly as he could. If he had been cold before, he was fired up now. The water beneath him spread and floating out of it came the drenched body of boy.  
_A boy!?_ Magnus realised in absolute shock, what could have possibility happened to make a young boy want to kill himself. Magnus had never heard of Shadowhunters falling victim of suicide before. He took of his coat and the moment the boy hit the ground, wrapped it around him. He looked to be around 16 years old, Magnus guessed. He quickly placed his finger on the boy’s pulse to make sure the heartbeat was still there. To his relief it was,  but judging by the state of him, it wouldn’t be for long. It was already weak and if Magnus didn’t get the boy indoors soon, he would possibility succumb to Hypothermia.

Magnus picked up the boy and ran across the bridge, to his home. Once he had entered the living room, he snapped his fingers and the hearth was a flame. He carefully placed the boy in front of it and rushed to the potion cabinet. He should have a pixie cream somewhere that heats up the body. He pushed aside some brown bottles and found the cream at the back of the cabinet. It was in a green perfume bottle.  
He took the bottle and went back to the boy. He rolled him onto his back and pushed the grey sweater down as much as possible. One finger was dipped in the lotion before he carefully rubbed the butter-like cream onto the boy’s chest. It was all he could do. He wasn’t a shadowhunter and had no skill in applying runes. Maybe he should have called someone? Henry perhaps. Though in all honesty, Magnus wasn’t sure if involving the Nephilim was such a good idea. This one had planned on committing suicide, and the shadowhunters didn’t believe mundane actions like that applied to them. They didn’t believe in depressions or mental illnesses. They considered themselves above it. Magnus knew they weren’t, though. He had known Shadowhunters that were terribly unhappy, most of them however just accidently died in battle. Or faked happiness their whole life long.  
He sat down on the red and green stripped ottoman chair “Sleep would have to wait.” He mumbled.

The boy started the stir around noon. Magnus had check every so often if he was improving, and steadily on his heartbeat rose and the pixie cream had worked its magic.  
“Good day.” Magnus greeted the boy as the younger one slowly opened his eyes. “How are you feeling?” he asked, his voice a soothing tone. He didn’t want to scare him.

“Where am I?” The shadowhunter said hoarsely. He coughed.

Magnus snapped his fingers and a cup appeared in his hand. Cautiously he approached the boy. “You’re at my house. My name is Magnus Bane.” The boy sat up and looked at him. He in return looked at the boy, immediately taken away by the colour of the boys eyes, they were a beautiful shade of blue.  
The boy also had black hair which put him the category of Magnus’s two things he finds irresistible. Blue eyes, Black Hair. It was his favourite combination. Always had been.

He handed the boy the cup and he eagerly took a sip. “You’re a warlock. I’ve heard of you.”

“Yes, I have worked with the London Institute on several occasions.” Magnus confirmed. “May I ask, who you are?”

The boy looked up and ran a hand through his hair. “My name is Alexander Lightwood. Though most people call me Alec.” A lightwood! Magnus hated the Lightwoods. Nasty people they were. He didn’t like shadowhunters in general but someone families were worse than others. And the Lightwoods were at the top of that list. They hated downworlders and downworlders hated them in return.

“How are feeling?” He asked slight more hostile than the tone he had taken earlier. Alec seemed to have caught on to that as well.

“Why am I here?” He asked, searching around him, “Where is my gear, my weapons?”

“You lost them.” Magnus explained.

“I lost them.” Alec looked surprised. “When?”

“Last night. When you jump of the bridge to kill yourself.” No need to soften the blow.  Alec, however, looked at him with open eyes. Eyes filled with such sorrow and it made Magnus feel guilty about his harsher tone. “I saved you, though, I’m afraid, your weapons are on the bottom the Thames.” He said with a calm voice.

“I remember.” He spoke softly. “Who ask you to save me?” He lashed out after a short silence. “I didn’t want to be saved.”

“Well next time I won’t.” Magnus responded. All the guilt he felt flown out the window.

“Great.” Alec said, placing the empty cup on the salon table next to him. “I should probably go.”

“Yes, you probably should.” The shadowhunter got up, looked like he had something to say, but clearly decided against it as he made his way to the front door. Magnus wished he was more of a demon, that he didn’t have a heart, but before the boy had reached the door, Magnus stood in front him. In his narrow hallway, he leaned against the front door. “Why did you want to kill yourself?” he asked upfront. He was curious, it was the first time he’d heard of it and to him first times were rare.

“That’s none of your business.”

“Perhaps not, but I’d like to know. If you are going to walk out and try again. I think I have a right to know why. What’s the worst that could happen if you tell me.”

“You wouldn’t understand.” Alec simply said. “Now move.”

“Try me.” Magnus challenged.

“I’m simply taking into my own hands the inevitable. There I explained it perfectly well. Now move.”

“Are you sick?” Magnus wondered, ignoring Alec’s requested. If it was an illness, he could understand the boys reasoning.

“I guess you call it an illness.”

“And there is no cure?”

“No, there isn’t.”

“And you are absolutely sure of this? Many things can be cured, if you look outside your own world.” Clearly Magnus had said something that intrigued the boy.

“You mean, you can cure things, we can’t.”

“I am a warlock. There are many things I can do, that none of you will ever be able too.”

“So what you are saying is that you could cure me?”

“I might be able too.”

“Even if it’s a mental illness?”

Magnus smiled, Depression seemed likely to him now. “I can try.” He said. He didn’t know how to cure depression, but the mundane people often talked things out with their doctors and were prescribed some kind of herbs. “Why don’t we go back to the living room and talk about it?” he suggested.

Alec clearly needed a moment to think it over. “Well… I guess if it means that I don’t have to die, it’s worth a shot.”

 _Don’t have to die? Don’t have to die. What an odd wording to use,_ Magnus thought. It almost sounded like dying was an order. Like someone or something was forcing him. Maybe committing suicide wasn’t his idea, maybe it really was some sick order. He wouldn’t put it passed the Lightwoods to sacrifice one of their sons to save the family honour, they would still have two left. You only need one heir in the end to continue the family name.

Magnus followed Alec into the living. They sat down, Alec on the green couch and Magnus on the ottoman opposite of it. There they remained silent for a while, Alec constantly opening his mouth to speak  but then shaking his head and looking back at his hands. Magnus didn’t mind at first it must be difficult for him to share his story, but he was getting a little impatient. _Maybe the boy just needed a notch_ , he thought. “Do you want to die?” He decided to ask.

Alec sighed. “No.” He said softly with a slight trembler in his voice, even though it was a short answer, barely audible, it broke his heart.  “But I’d rather take my own life ,then have them strip me of my marks and throw me in the mundane world, where death inevitability will come to me quickly and that is only if they don’t decide to kill me themselves.”

Magnus hadn’t heard of shadowhunters killing the mentally ill, so he expected there to be more to the story than that. Maybe he had broken the law, and the shadowhunters do always say that the law is hard. “Are you in trouble?” Magnus wondered.

“Not yet. But it’s bound to happen.” The answer relieved him, it would do him no good if word got out he was sheltering a fugitive. Things between him and the shadowhunters were on thin ice enough as it was. “I’m not like the rest of them, you see.” Alec looked at him for the smallest second. Eyes filled with pain. “I’m different. I’m sick. Abnormal. There’s something terribly, terribly wrong with me.”

“What do you mean, there is something wrong with you?” Alec ran a hand through his hair again, clearly something the boy did when he was uncomfortable, Magnus decide. “If you don’t tell me, I can’t help.” Magnus explained.

Alec sighed again, gathering up the courage to speak out. “Do you know how normal men fall in love with ladies and like ladies.” Alec said rather quickly, “I don’t have that.”

“Well, you are young. Maybe you are just a late bloomer.” Magnus suggested. The boy couldn’t be older than 18 surely.

“Oh, I wish that was it.” Alec bit his lip, nervously. “You see, it’s not that I don’t have these feelings of infatuation or desire…. I just done have them for ladies.” The boy looked at him. Waiting for a response.

Magnus smiled. “You like men.” He simply stated.

“Can you cure it?”

“No, I’m afraid I cannot.” Alec dropped his head in his hands. “There is nothing to cure you see. You’re not sick.”

“Yes, I am! I am sick! This is not normal!”

Magnus got up from his chair and sat down next to him, he wanted to calm the boy.  “No, you’re not. Listen to me. There are many different ways to love. I know women that love women, I know men that love men.” Alec slowly raised his head, “I know women that love both, and I know men that do the same.” Alec looked at him puzzled. “You are not alone in this.”

“I know that. They kill Marianna Verlac two weeks ago, because her husband found her bed with a mundane girl.” Alec responded. “I will not let that happen to me. That is not how I want to die.”

“Poor girl, she was very lovely to be around.”

“Are you sure there is no cure?” Alec asked again.

“None that I know of.”

“So in all your life, you’ve never seen anyone become normal?”

“No, most fake a normal, as you call it, life and have a rather dangerous secret life on the side.”

“How do you even know so many of these people?”

“I am one of them.” Magnus answered with a friendly smile.

“You’re like me.” Alec was clearly startled by this reveal.

“No, I like men as much as I like women. Always have, always will.”

“How do you prevent people from telling on you? Or killing you?”

“Darling, I am a very powerful warlock. Nobody messes with me.” He grinned.

The wheel is Alec’s head were turning. “Could you protect me?” he said rather hopeful.

“I could for the right price.”

“How much?”

“30 silver pieces a week.”

“30? I don’t have that much.” Alec sighed. “Well, If you are not going to protect me, then I really should be going. If you can’t help me, I’m just wasting my time.” He got up and walked to the door. “It’s getting dark and there is something I need to do before the sun rises again.”

“Wait!” Magnus yelled out as he ran to the door, he really couldn’t let this boy leave, knowing he was just going to find another bridge, for another try. This time probably successful. “Alright. You win. I don’t know why, cause I really dislike shadowhunters. But you win, I’ll help you. I will protect you, but on one condition.” Alec raised his head. “You pay me back as soon as your able too. 30 silver pieces a week. You’re a Lightwood that shouldn’t be all too difficult once you’re older.”

“I swear on the Angel, I will pay you back.” He replied.

“Then it’s a deal, Alexander Lightwood.”  

The boy beamed with joy. “This means I don’t have die, right? You will help me?”

“Yes, It means you don’t have to die. Not before your time anyway.”

Before he could register what had happened Alec was in front him and threw his muscular arms around him. “Thank you.” He whispered as he held the warlock in a tight embrace.

Magnus, taken aback at first, placed his hands on the boy’s back. “You’re welcome.” The boy unhooked his arms and smiled at him again. “You are the first shadowhunter to ever thank me.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Well, I do owe you my life, so, a thank you is in order.” Alec reasoned.

Magnus smiled. “Would you like some dinner?” He asked when he heard his own stomach growl. If he was going to work for this boy, he would like to know him better and Alec must be starving as well.

“Dinner would be great.” Alec passed him in the hallway and walked back into the living room. “Maybe you can tell me more about how loving boys isn’t abnormal.” He suggested. “I mean, I’m glad I don’t have to die, because you are going to help me with that. But I still fail to see, how any of this is normal.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll get there. All you need is a little time and to meet more people like you.”

“Magnus?” Magnus turned around and looked at him, he wasn’t sure what surprised him more, the use of his name or the soft tone in which it was said. “Thank you, for saving my life. For helping me. I never thought anyone would ever be able to help me or know what I’m going through. So, I guess..I guess, I’m happy that out of all the people that could have saved me. You actually did.”

The boy looked so sincere that it almost made him blush. “You’re welcome, Alexander.” He smiled. “You are most welcome.”


End file.
